Is your brand in need of an evolutionary or revolutionary change?

Have you ever found yourself looking at your business branding and thinking it’s time for an overhaul, a reassessment or a refresh? Your business could just be in evolution or revolution mode.

A business brand is a living entity. As it evolves and matures over time you’ll find yourself going through phases of reassessment to ensure your business remains true, articulating its authentic personality and values in alignment for the products and/or services it stands for.

Brand evolution is when you are looking to make small, incremental changes, tweaks to your current business branding. This option is often recommended when your brand has a strong position in the marketplace and you want to keep up with a growing or developing market.

Brand revolution, on the other hand, is usually recommended if your customer base / target market is in decline, you aren’t attracting your ideal clients or your brand is no longer standing out from your competitors – there’s no point of difference.

Even the big brands do it!

When we look at the big brands we usually only remember their current visual brand identity (the colours, logo, font type). Yet it’s really fascinating to see the evolutionary changes and for some, the quite remarkable revolutionary changes they have gone through over the years.

IBM is famously known as ‘Big Blue’. When they started back in 1911 their brand colour was black and their logo unrecognisable from what it is today. It’s hard to believe they only changed to blue in 1972. This is a brand that definitely went through a revolutionary change.

Shell’s brand identity has been going through an evolutionary change since it was founded in 1907, evolving slowly through approximately nine changes, to what we see today. So strongly do we associate with their brand colours and shapethey no longer need to use their company name.

Gap is famous for going through a revolutionary change, only to then switch back due to the major backlash from its loyal customer base. (From the report sourced at the end of this article) the new look branding was meant to herald a new era of “modern, sexy cool” fashion. Mark Choueke, editor of Marketing Week, said: “Gap stands for youth, vitality and edge but this looks like the logo of an IT firm.” [1]

So how can you do this?

When I work with business owners, I always recommend we start by carrying out a full brand analysis (Brand Personality Colour & Design Psychology Analysis). That way you are crystal clear about your business brand identity and it’s at this point you’ll know if the brand is in need of an evolutionary or a revolutionary change.

Think of this as having a brand baseline, a solid brand foundation from which every decision for your business will stem; from your logo design, brand colours, brand strategy, through to the staff you hire and your customer service processes.

Now I’m not saying you have to spend millions like the big brands, but it does show how seriously they take their brand identity to be willing to spend enormous sums of money to get it right. They know the key to business success is to engage with their customers’ emotions. You need to think about how buying from you is going to make your customers ‘feel’.

Communicating through colour

As a business owner how much thought have you put into the tone and combination of colours that represent your business brand? Do you know what they are actually saying?

Surprisingly, most business owners use colour as mere decoration or as an afterthought. Instead think of colour as a subliminal language, another way to communicate and to attract your ideal clients.

Used to its full effect, your branding colours will give you the competitive edge, elicit the right emotional response from your prospects, and significantly increase your sales.

What do your business branding colours represent? What does it mean for your business brand identity?

If you would like to understand how you can make your business brand colours work for you, check out my business branding colourarticles here on Women Unlimited Worldwide. You can download my free e-book 7 mistakes most business owners make with their branding colours over here!

About Karen Haller

Karen Haller is one of the leading authorities in the field of applied colour psychology. She is an internationally renowned business colour and brand personality expert, helping clients from across the globe transform the branding image of their business. She has consulted, trained and worked on campaigns for a number of prestigious brands including 3M Post-it, Thomas Pink, Humanscale, Dulux, Orange Mobile, Logitech and The Peggy Porschen Cake Academy.
Karen is regularly featured in the UK’s leading magazines, newspapers and on radio. She is a published author, consultant, tutor and speaker on the subject of colour psychology, Colour Intuition™, colour association and colour in culture.
Karen Haller runs her own colour and design consultancy specialising in the science and psychology of colour and how that is applied to business branding and interiors. When it comes to the design process Karen believes it starts with understanding the authentic personality whether that is of an individual or a business, revealing the colours and design that expresses their true identity.
Karen is a co-author of the leading industry book Colour design: Theories and applications, the first of its kind bringing the arts, science and applications together. Karen was commissioned to write chapter 20 - Colour in interior design, discussing the use of colour in both residential and commercial interiors.
Karen speaks regularly to businesses and industry professionals on the importance of colour. She has given talks at Grand Designs LIVE on her Colour Intuition™ system and spoke at the prestigious industry Clerkenwell Design week on the importance of colour and how architects and interior designers have an incredible social responsibility with the colour choices they make.
Karen is also a trustee of the Colour Group of Great Britain and on the advisory board of the charity Color Cares.
Visit www.karenhaller.co.uk for your free e-book on ‘7 Mistakes Most Business Owners Make with Their Branding Colours’.
You can connect with Karen by clicking on the icons below.